Reply #164: While I like what you say, for the most part, I have to disagree with you about factory farms

[MadHound]

They are indeed an environmental disaster. Those state of the art sewage systems are nothing more than holding ponds, poorly constructed ones at that, that leak raw sewage into the local groundwater, contaminating well for miles around.

In addition, there is the issue of the smell, which can waft for miles. Not only is this extremely unpleasant for neighbors near and far, but it also drives down property values for miles around.

In addition, with over stressed animals in close confinement, you've just set up the perfect breeding grounds for all kinds of fun diseases, thus necessitating the injection of large doses of anti-biotics and other drugs that get passed up the food chain to you and I. In addition, when the anti-biotics and other drugs don't work, as is becoming increasingly common, we have a wonderful communicable disease that is drug resistant. Not a good thing.

Furthermore, factory farms are destroying rural life. Whereas once a family farmer was able to make a good living on the land, he is now being run off his farm, beaten the the economics of extreme scale. In addition, this is killing many small farming towns as more and more family farmers fail and move into the city.

Then there is, quite frankly, the matter of taste. There is nothing better tasting than a steak that comes from a happy, organically raised, stress free cow. Factory farms stress out all animals, all the time. Thus various chemicals are released throughout the cows life, tainting the taste of the meat and making it tough.

Finally, this trend in factory farming is putting our food supply into the hands of a very few group of producers. From both an economic, environmental and public health point of view, this is a very bad thing.

This is why I'm helping out the family farm movement, finding ways to compete with these big behemoths and drive them from the agricultural scene. It is in all our interests to rid ourselves of factory farms, the sooner the better. They're a disaster waiting to happen in more ways than one.